What Great Faith

 

Based on Matthew 15:21-28

             This is a hard passage. Why does Jesus have to be so rude? I feel like we have to deal with Jesus’ poor attitude or, I’ll just say it, bias against Canaanites, before we can dig in to what this passage is about and how to apply it to our lives.  I sense this need to defend Jesus, to try to explain away why Jesus first ignored the plea of a woman desperate for the healing of her daughter and then calls her a dog. Yes, Jesus could sometimes be pretty strong with his words. He often called Pharisees hypocrites and snakes. There is that famous example where he went into the temple courts and turned over the tables of the moneychangers, deriding the temple as a den of thieves. But there was some justification for calling Pharisees hypocrites and turning over the tables. What is the justification for Jesus to call this woman a dog? What does Jesus have against Canaanites? We have to deal with this before we can move in to the heart of what this passage is about.

            As I have thought about it and read the thoughts of others, I have come up with two justifications for why Jesus comes across as at least rude if not prejudiced. Let’s remember that Jesus is a human being like you and me. When he was walking on this earth, he got hungry and thirsty. He needed to sleep. He had feelings. So, let’s recall quickly what has been happening since his cousin was decapitated by Herod’s thugs. He wanted to get away, but the crowds followed him desperate for healing. He heals them and miraculously feeds 5,000 men, not including women and children. He sends them away and he finally gets his night alone on the mountain. Then he catches up with his disciples by walking on the water. When they get to the other side, in Gennesaret, we read how the people from all over brought to Jesus people to heal, begging to just touch the fringe of his cloak. I wonder if Jesus said to the crowd, “I’m worn out, I need a break.” “But all we have to do is touch your cloak.” “Fine.” So, Jesus kept walking silently through the crowd while they reached out and touched his cloak. Then he is confronted by Pharisees who want to argue with him. At this point, he’s had enough. He sets out for Tyre and Sidon, which is located in present day Lebanon. In other words, he is going about as far away from the Israelites as he can get. He really needs a break. Compassion fatigue is setting in. He wants to go somewhere that he can be left alone, where no one is going to come up to him asking for anything. But, sure enough, as he approaches a place where he anticipates being left alone, here comes a Canaanite woman shouting and pleading for him to heal her daughter. He just can’t get a break. So, he clams up and then demeans her. He acted that way because, frankly, Jesus was tired and not his best self.

            If that doesn’t work for you, here is another possible justification. When Matthew composed this gospel, he was writing it with his church in mind. This means that the stories of Jesus he knew were shaped in ways that addressed the situation of his church. The past few weeks, you may remember, we have looked at these stories of Jesus as ways to encourage Matthew’s church who was experiencing persecution and struggle. It is also likely that the makeup of Matthew’s church was likely Jewish Christians. But there were Gentile Christians who wanted to be a part of the church as well. And this created tension. Matthew deals with this tension by having Jesus stress that he was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel. When Jesus sent the disciples out two by two, he told them to only go to the lost sheep of Israel. At the end of the gospel, Jesus tells the apostles to go make disciples of all nations. But the focus, certainly when Jesus was walking on the earth, was to present the good news to Jesus’ fellow Jews. Gentiles were peripheral to the mission. Israel was the primary concern. That said, the way Jesus relates to this Canaanite woman highlights one of Matthew’s concerns for his church, to make it clear that Christianity is first and foremost a Jewish movement. Gentiles may participate but they are not on the same level and should be considered as exceptions to the rule. This is how Matthew is addressing a specific source of tension in his church. So, for us, we don’t have that same issue. Of course, now the church is pretty much Jewish free. There are some messianic Jews but for the most part Christianity is a Gentile religion. And there is a long and painful history to explain this current state of affairs that I can’t get in to now. I only bring this up as a justification to explain Jesus’ standoffishness by connecting it with the context of what Matthew’s church was having to deal with. If that is the case, then maybe we don’t need to focus too much on how Jesus responded to the Canaanite woman. It reflected a time and place that is different from our own.

            Maybe neither of these justifications are good enough to defend Jesus’ rudeness. Maybe we have to be honest and acknowledge that Jesus is being plain rude or revealing that Jesus had a negative bias against Canaanites. The Canaanites were, after all, ancient enemies of the Israelites. But who can blame them? They were the people who were living on the land that God chose to settle Israel. The Canaanites were displaced from their land to make room for God’s chosen people. The mutual animosity had a history. Perhaps Jesus couldn’t escape the impact of that history. At the same time, we believe that Jesus is without sin. So, maybe we can take comfort in knowing that being rude is not a sin.

            Anyway, let’s focus in on the issue of faith. I think faith is the big theme of Jesus’ encounter with this Canaanite woman. At the end of their back and forth, Jesus states that the woman has great faith. What was so great about it? What was it that the woman said and did that gave Jesus the impression that she had great faith?

            One way to answer that question is to contrast her faith with the not so great faith of Peter and the other disciples. Last week, we reflected on the weakness of Peter’s faith. He did not believe that was Jesus walking on the water. Instead of trusting what he heard, Peter decides to test the truth of the words by telling Jesus to command him to get out of the boat and walk on the water toward him. Peter ordered Jesus to do something that only the divine can do, which is to walk on water. Peter walking on the water had nothing to do with his faith. It had everything to do with his testing the truth of Jesus’ words. It was Peter’s weak faith that put him out there walking on the water.

            The Canaanite woman, however, had no doubt whatsoever. She was clear in her mind who Jesus was and what Jesus could do. She approached Jesus asking for mercy. She wasn’t looking for a sign. She wasn’t looking for proof that Jesus was who he said he was. She knew what Jesus was capable of. She’s begging for mercy. She calls him “Lord” and “Son of David”, which is a messianic title. She was identifying Jesus in ways that even many of his fellow Jews wouldn’t call him. She knew who she was talking to. She knelt before him, blocking his path so he couldn’t keep walking. She is in a posture of submission. She is not ordering Jesus to do something. But look at the disciples. They tell Jesus to send her away. They order Jesus around a lot don’t they? They told Jesus to send the crowds away. They tell him to send this woman away. Later they will tell Jesus to send the children away. These disciples sometimes come across as pretty arrogant, telling Jesus to send people away. Who are they to treat Jesus this way? To Jesus’ credit, he never does that. He tells the disciples to feed the crowd. He engages with the woman. He says, “Let the little children come to me.” Jesus never sends people away, even if, in this case, he is rude to this woman. At least Jesus engages in conversation and explains why he is not inclined to help her. But that resistance does not stop this woman. She doesn’t walk away dejected. She doesn’t come back at Jesus by saying, “How dare you call me a dog!” Instead, she responds by acknowledging that she has no standing to demand anything from Jesus but still pleads for mercy. The dogs get to eat the crumbs that accidentally fall from the master’s table. All she is asking for is a crumb of mercy so her daughter could be freed from the demon and live the life she is meant to live, a life freed from demon possession.

            This is the character of this woman’s faith. She does not order Jesus to do something for her. She does not approach Jesus with a sense of entitlement, that she has the right to make any claim on Jesus’ healing power. She is humble in her request and motivated by love for her daughter. She is persistent in her asking for healing. Through it all, she has no doubt that Jesus has the power to heal her daughter. She has unwavering faith in his power to heal and she asks for that healing for her daughter without any sense of entitlement and acknowledging that Jesus does not have to respond to her request. Great is her faith indeed.

            What does this mean for us? What lesson can we learn about the quality of great faith?

            The way the Canaanite woman approached Jesus with her request is an example for us in how we can exercise our faith when we present our requests to God. The woman was unwavering in her faith that Jesus could heal her daughter if he was willing. She had no doubt. Do you sometimes waver in your faith? Fred Craddock tells this story of a small rural church somewhere in Appalachia that he visited one time. Typically, in the sanctuary you will find portraits of Jesus praying at Gethsemane, or of Jesus with his arms held wide open, or maybe a painting of the river Jordan. But in this church, they had a painting of a bulldog. Fred had to ask, “what is the reason for the painting of the bulldog?” One of the elders of the church said, “Because we have the faith of a bulldog. We never let go.” They have faith that is as tenacious as a bulldog. I’ll admit my faith is not always as tenacious, especially in times of anxiety when it seems everything is closing in and nothing is going right. How tenacious is your faith?

            The Canaanite woman approached Jesus without any sense of entitlement or claim on Jesus to do what she wants him to do. And when her request was met with silence, she doubled down, falling on her knees before him and begging. And when the response was not in her favor, she responded with humility but also with a plea for mercy. She was clear that Jesus was the one with the power to heal and all she could do was make the ask and hope that Jesus would respond. And she would persist when met with silence or an unfavorable response. Humility and persistence are the examples this woman gives to us. What have you done when you have prayed for something and sensed no response at all, as if your prayers went no higher than the ceiling? I think we all have had those times where we have prayed, asking for help, for guidance, for comfort, and were met with silence. Or things don’t get better, but instead get worse. But we need to remember that God is not a concierge. There is a bigger picture. And maybe there are situations where what we are asking of God would not be for our good. Or maybe certain things have to fall in place before God can make something happen for us. The timing isn’t right. Or maybe God is trying to answer our prayer but free will or other forces are getting in the way. Maybe you’ve heard this story before. A neighborhood was being flooded out. This man crawled up to the roof of his house to escape the flood waters. A rescue team with a boat came by to get him, but the man refused. “It’s ok, I’m waiting for God to save me.” Later, as the water continues to rise, a helicopter comes by and a rescuer comes down to pick him up, but he refuses saying, “God’s going to save me.” The water continues to rise, and the man drowns. When he gets to heaven, he asks God, “Why did you not save me from drowning?” God replied, “I sent a rescue boat and a helicopter, what more did you want?” God’s will is resisted all the time. There are any number of reasons why our prayers aren’t always answered right away. And sometimes the answers we get were not what we were looking for. Great faith prompts us to keep praying, to persist in the requests we bring before God with humility. Whether God answers the prayers as we want is up to God. I like this line in this ancient prayer that was composed back in the fourth century: “Fulfill now, O Lord, our desires and petitions as may be best for us. So good. We offer our desires and petitions to God and trust in God’s wisdom to respond in ways that are best for us. That is great faith to pray this prayer with conviction.

            I invite you today to consider the quality of your faith. Is your faith more like the faith of Peter on the ship in the stormy sea? Or is it more like the Canaanite woman who comes to Jesus begging for mercy? Whatever is the quality of your faith today, remember this. Jesus never sent anyone away. And he will never send you away. Whether your faith is strong or wavering, Jesus is always with you and Jesus is constantly praying for you.